


Upstate Penitentiary

by glamSKANKK



Category: Adam Lambert (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, M/M, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-06-15
Updated: 2011-06-28
Packaged: 2017-10-20 11:10:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glamSKANKK/pseuds/glamSKANKK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 1893, and the revolution of asylums is starting to take hold. A young activist, Adam, has dedicated his life to changing the way asylums are run inside and out. When he finds himself in the midst of the horror, he meets a very young and dashing Tommy. His problem? Well he isn't sure. To himself, Tommy is completely normal. His niece, Tina, lives with him and they keep each other company, sane. After witnessing months of grueling treatment for a condition that, in his mind, doesn't exist, Adam forces himself to change and beat the system- just for Tommy's sake. The real question, however, is will it work?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've done a lot of research on treatments, symptoms and illnesses. To the best of my knowledge, the facts stated in this work of fiction are true and accurate. I will post citations where necessary.
> 
> Please note that this is just a work of fiction. I am in no way associated with any of these characters. This work is entirely nonprofit and just for entertainment.
> 
> And of course, I have to thank my absolutely amazing and wonderful beta, Maddy (seethemonte)!

He sat on the bed, looking around the small, dimly lit room. The lighting casted a yellow sheen on everything, making his new home look filthier than it was. Wallpaper peeled, paint chipped, concrete sat alone. Four walls surrounded him in a plain rectangular fashion.

That was one thing Tommy noticed right away. The plainness of it all. Everything was plainly plain. Painfully plain. The concrete floor beneath him existed nakedly. Its gray, flat face stared back at him with no intention of offering any sort of comfort. The walls also oozed emptiness, no matter what sounds seeped through their cracks.

He looked around the whole room, making a mental map for himself. He placed himself at the door, facing away from it. His bed was centered and flush against the left wall. No nightstand. There was a window directly opposite from where he was standing, however it had been bolted shut. Along the wall to the right were two chairs, cockeyed and worn. Between them rested a table with a lamp. There was a metal toilet at the foot of his bed with a sink jammed in the corner to the left of it. A mirror was built into the wall above it.   
“Great. I get to watch myself take a piss.”

“Well, I suppose this could be worse.” Tommy looked up to see his niece and best friend, Tina. She was petite, standing no more than five feet tall. A short floral sundress covered the middle of her body, the things that needed to be covered. Her auburn hair tickled the middle of her back, and flipped around in loose curls at the ends. She was just 13. “It smells musty in here,” She said looking at him curiously. “Are you okay, Tommy?”

“I guess so. I feel cold. And damp.” Tommy moved his attention from the wall momentarily to peek at her from the corner of his eye. He picked at one of his cuticles and listened.

“What’s wrong?” She pranced a wee bit closer, but never too close. She knew how he got these days. She knew what he was like. He wasn’t ever mean, no. But he did manage to lose control once in a while. Those are the times Tina goes away. She never stays for those.

“Nothing, I guess. But-” He stopped. He heard something. Footsteps.   
  
  
  


Murder.

Pain.   
Stranger.   
They know.   
  
  
  


Wait... Did he hear more than one set of footfalls? Oh no.

  
Tommy sprang from his bed and onto his feet. Tina was gone. She had left a long time ago. He darted for the nearest way out. The only problem? The nearest way out was the only way in. Fuck. 

  
  
  
Don’t panic.   
You’ll survive.   
Maybe.

“Fucking fuck!” The door clicked, and the sound of metal on metal resonated through the air. He could smell the medicinal odor they carried with them.

“Oh, hey there, Tommy. A little excited for our arrival?” No lab coats. Weird. They couldn’t be doctors, then. Of course not. Doctors wear long white coats. The first person was a man. Tommy looked him up and down, taking note of his creased pants, pressed shirt with the open top button, and clip board. The clip board donned the name, “Tommy Joe Ratliff.”

“How do you know my name?” He never averted his eyes from the board.

“I’m your doctor, here. I’m gonna be taking care of you while you’re here.” He feigned kindness. Again, Tommy took note.

“Oh, really.” It wasn’t a question. Tommy started picking at his cuticle again. When did he ever stop in the first place? He couldn’t remember.

“Yes, really!” The man was too happy. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“What’s your name? If you’re going to be my doctor, I should know your name, shouldn’t I?”

“Tiberius Lenon.”

“Uh huh.” Tommy felt a sharp sting and looked down at his thumb. He was bleeding. “Whoops.”

“Do you know why you’re here, Tommy?” The doctor placed his board in front of him and situated his pencil.

“Free food.” He smirked a little. Being a smartass was one trait he loved. Tiberius Lenon wasn’t as amused. Tommy’s face fell a little. “No, I don’t. I don’t feel sick or off at all. As far as I’m concerned, I’m perfectly fine. Actually, I don’t really even know what kind of hospital this is. I know this isn’t the emergency room, though. That’s for damn sure.” His eyes followed the pencil as it scrawled something across the paper. “What are you writing? You haven’t even listened to my heart yet.” He lifted his eyes to meet the doctor’s.

“I know. That’s because I’m a different kind of doctor. We have other people, nurses, who will come in to check your vitals and take care of you when you’re sick. But I’m just here to see how your brain is working. How you’re thinking.”

“I’m thinking perfectly well.” Tommy’s eyes narrowed.

“And I’m sure you are! Have you talked to or seen anyone today?” Tiberius prepared his pencil once again.

“Yeah, I saw my niece, Tina. She stopped by to see the room.”   
“And how old is Tina?”

  
“She’s 13.”

“Is she your sister’s daughter or your brother’s daughter?”

“Neither. She doesn’t have any parents.” He said so in a way that implied common sense.

“Oh, really? Then how do you know she’s your niece?”

“She just is.” Tommy knew. He just did. It was common sense to him, and anyone around him. He was Tina’s uncle, and she was his niece. That’s just how it worked.

“Okay, then. Well, how old is she? 13, you said? How long has she been 13?” The doctor peered over the tops of his glasses.

“She’s- What kind of question is that? That doesn’t even make any sense?”

  
  
  
He knows about us, Uncle Tommy.   
What are you going to do?   
Don’t let him take me away.

“I want you to leave now, Doc. I... I’m tired and just want to lay down. This is pretty damn different.” Again, he looked around. This time, he made note of the moisture on the walls.

“But our session isn’t over yet, Tommy.” Tiberius made no move to exit quickly.

“I asked you to leave.”

“This isn’t your house. This is my hospital, therefore you will follow my rules. Understood?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He tapped the pencil repeatedly in annoyance. “You are going to sit there and you are going to talk to me and you will tell me exactly what’s on your mind. Understand?”

“You leaving is what’s on my mind.” Tommy glared right back.

“No.”

“What?”

  
  
  
Rude.   
Ignorant.   
This man has no idea what he’s getting himself into.

“You heard me. No. I’m not leaving. We still have 20 minutes.”

  
  
  
Make him leave.   
Make him go.   
Go away.   
Tommy, we don’t want him here anymore. Please make him go.

  
  
  
Tommy threw himself up, arms in the air. When did he sit? He couldn’t remember. “Get out!” He screamed, violently throwing his right arm in the direction of the door. “Get out, get out, get the fuck out! None of us want you here! You’re making Tina nervous, as well as the rest! Just get out and come back later to finish your stupid fucking session!” Tommy felt the sweat roll lazily down his face and neck. His back felt damp. The blood coursed through his veins, he felt as though his entire body was pulsating. 

Tiberius Lenon sat calmly in his seat. He looked at Tommy, then back down at his board and papers. He neatly rested the pencil under his thumb against the paper. “Okay, Tommy. I will see you later. Hopefully I’ll get to meet Tina in the near future.” And with that, he left.

  


What happened to the other person we heard?

  


“Tina? You can come out now. I’m sorry he was so mean. I really am.” Tommy walked slowly around his room. He knew strangers always made her feel uneasy. She would come back soon, though. She always does. He walked in a few circles looking for her, making sure to check in every possible nook and cranny.

  


“Here I am.” Tina poked her head out from under Tommy’s bed.

  


“There you are!” His voice smiled to match his face. “How did I not see you under there?”

  


“I was hiding really well.” Tommy held the sheet up so she could crawl out from her fortress. “Are we safe, now?” She  looked up at him. Her face was written with nothing but pure innocence. Who ever could be so rude in the presence of such a sweet child?

  


“Yeah, honey. We’re safe, now.” Tommy sat on the bed, patting the spot next to him for her to take a seat.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is significantly shorter than the first. I promise they won't all be this short or this late. Some stuff has been going on in my personal life that I can't really escape.  
> All of the mistakes are my own.

Adam stood in the foyer of his own humble abode. Before making his way through the threshold, he glanced over himself in the mirror. Perfectly hysterical. His mother came closely behind him.

“Are you ready, Adam?” She too made one final touch up to her look. “I have no idea why you want to do this.” Hair that was so neatly tucked behind her ears fell loose when she shook her head. “It’s ridiculous. Those people deserve to be there. The doctors are taking care of them to the best of their abilities... I don’t see why you have a need to intervene.”

Adam shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Have you ever seen what goes on in those places?” Leila just looked at him. “Exactly, Mother. No, you haven’t. That’s because they’re horrible! Those doctors are hardly that. They’re hardly even human. Have you ever heard of a ‘prefrontal lobotomy’ or ‘icepick lobotomy’? Shock therapy? Did you know that those ‘doctors’ hook patients up to a giant swing and spin them in circles at high speeds to ‘calm their nerves’? That doesn’t sound very calming to me. Are you aware that patients often get branded on the head with a red-hot iron in an attempt to bring them to their senses? Mom, those ‘doctors’ are hardly even human. I-”

Her face quickly turned hard and serious when she met his eyes. “You pretending to be something you’re not isn’t going to change anything.”

“Watch me.” And with that, Adam shifted his cold blue eyes toward the door and his body followed suit to the carriage.

The black geldings stood frozen in time as the wind whipped around them, thrashing their manes and tails wildly in the breeze. One clapped a hoof to the ground repeatedly, begging for attention as Adam walked by. He gave the horse a quick pat on the neck to appease his yearning.

Once inside the cab, Adam adjusted his coat, jerking at the collar and fiddling with the top button. “Adam, stop that. You’re going to mess it up.” He glowered at his mother.

The ride to Upstate Penitentiary was long, bumpy and silent. The tension in the air could easily be cut with a knife.

Adam’s one and only goal in life was to change the way mental institutions were run. He had seen, first hand, what went on inside of those places. Once when he was younger, he posed as a psychologist running a quick “before and after” study on patients dealing with female hysteria. He documented patient conditions before treatment and recorded many women as suffering from faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, muscle spasms and even “a tendency to cause trouble”. Common treatments for this disorder included sensory deprivation. And since that was the least intrusive, that’s what Adam chose to study. After being placed in solitary confinement for weeks to months based on severity of the condition, Adam recorded the women’s symptoms to only be worse than when they began.  
\----------------------  
The carriage slowed to a halt, and Adam peered through the window. They had stopped right at the end of the drive. A huge granite sign stood firmly in place reading “Upstate Penitentiary” in an easy-to-read script. From the outside, the establishment looked just as inviting as any hotel. It rose above the landscape with towers and stories upon stories. Windows watched as prospective guests filed into the building, and laughed as many never exited. There were watching windows on every floor and placed evenly along the perimeter. What onlookers didn’t know was that what they saw was what they got. Those windows were it. Between the floors, molded concrete formed decorative protrusions in the otherwise smooth structure. The concrete was tan, as opposed to the dark red brick. A wrought iron gate closed the drive off from the main road. A bellhop, or so he appeared, stood at the entrance.

“Name?” He peeked into the carriage, and flicked something from his hand.

“Lambert.” Leila perked up. Adam had just begun to put his act on. He let his eyes dart around the carriage, looking at things that were not there, laughing at words unspoken.

The bellhop looked over the handwritten list obsessively. “I don’t have you down on the registry... Did you write or notify someone of your coming?”

“Oh, no. I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to. Please just let me speak to someone. This boy is driving our family apart... we need to have him fixed. He talks to people who aren’t even there and sees things that don’t exist and yells at no one. Please.” Leila put on her best pleading look, and even forced a tear to her eye.

Before she was completely done begging, the gate had opened and the horses began up the drive.


End file.
